Chapter 116: Forget the Shoes, Just Run!
Yu Luo’s urgent shout startled the others, who had been about to lie back down. Hesitantly, they began getting up, their fear pushing them to hurriedly dress.
Yu Yingying, still drowsy and shivering from the cold after leaving her warm blankets, complained loudly, “Why are you making such a fuss? We were finally warm, and now you’re making us freeze to death outside!”
“Believe it or don’t. If you want to keep sleeping, go ahead—just be ready to get eaten.”
Yu Luo couldn’t be bothered to argue. She swiftly bundled herself up in multiple layers before helping Ye Jiamei dress as well.
Seeing their determination, others who had hesitated no longer cared about being ridiculed. They quickly urged their families to dress, grabbed blankets, and rushed outside.
Even Old Madam Chen, despite her initial disbelief, grabbed Lady Lan and followed the fleeing crowd. Seeing this, Yu Yingying panicked.
“What are you waiting for? Better to believe it than regret it later! You want to be a midnight snack for those beasts?”
Turning back, Chang Huilan found her youngest daughter still sitting in bed, unmoving. Without hesitation, she smacked Yu Yingying’s back and grabbed her arm.
She didn’t even let Yu Yingying put on proper clothes, just picked up a pile of clothes and blankets and dragged her out.
“My shoes! My shoes!”
“Forget the shoes! Just run!”
Once outside, Yu Yingying realized she was barefoot. Even with multiple pairs of socks on, the frozen, trampled ground was icy cold, sending a chill up her spine. She let out a shriek.
She was barely wearing a thin cotton jacket, and the cold air made her feel like she was about to die!
Yu Xiaoran, who was helping people evacuate, turned around and saw his mother dragging his struggling sister.
Without a second thought, he grabbed Yu Yingying, lifted her in his arms, and used his light footwork to leap onto a tall poplar tree.
Seated on a thick branch over ten meters above the ground, Yu Yingying was just about to call her brother back to fetch her boots when she saw him disappear in a flash.
“Big Brother! I need my boots! My feet are freezing! I’m going to die!”
Dangling her feet off the branch, she was too afraid to move. In less than fifteen minutes, she felt as though her toes were already numb.
But Yu Xiaoran had already returned to the ground to help lift more elderly people into the trees. He never heard his sister’s desperate cries.
This moment of neglect would haunt Yu Xiaoran for the rest of his life.
The wilderness was mostly flat with little to no mountains. Any small slopes were buried under thick snow, leaving no places to hide.
Yu Luo’s family of three immediately climbed up a tree upon stepping outside.
It wasn’t that they didn’t want to enter Ye Jiamei’s space—it was that there were too many eyes around and the burning watchfires illuminated the entire area.
“Liu Mingxia, go with Xiaoran and take the horses and wild boar meat east!”
The horses and meat were their key survival resources. Even after cooking, Yu Zhengqing had ensured that all supplies were stored back onto the sled carts.
Clothes and bedding weren’t a concern—beasts wouldn’t be interested in those—but the horses and piles of wild boar meat could definitely attract unwanted attention.
These supplies were as important as their own lives.
At this point, Yu Zhengqing no longer questioned Yu Luo’s dream. Her family had been the first to flee up the trees—he had to take it seriously!
“Understood! Lord An, please take care of my family!”
“I will. Your priority is protecting the horses! Don’t let the beasts get them! Do not come back for now.”
“Got it!”
Liu Mingxia had no time to argue. He had chosen to trust Yu Zhengqing’s leadership completely.
Besides, staying behind wouldn’t help his wife and children. He had to put his faith in the plan—hesitation could get everyone killed.
[Host, approximately 800 beasts are approaching. Your mission today is to help your parents drive them away. Killing half will earn you 1,000 points. Eliminating two-thirds will get you 3,000 points. If you manage to kill almost all of them, with only a few escaping, you will receive a 5,000-point reward!]
Yu Luo’s system announcement rang in her head.
But she wasn’t excited—she was terrified.
The higher the point reward, the harder the task.
“If I fail, will I lose points? Why aren’t you deducting any this time?”
[Previously, I deducted points because you were unwilling to complete tasks. But after all you’ve been through, I can see that you want to grow stronger. There’s no need for me to force you anymore.]
Yu Luo nodded.
Sitting high up in the poplar tree, she was bundled tightly in thick cotton layers, along with the heavy fur coat Yu Haojie had bought earlier. She even had a blanket wrapped around herself.
In a place where even urine would freeze instantly, she had to prepare for the worst. She didn’t want to become an ice sculpture before the beasts even arrived.
In less than thirty minutes, the entire group—over a hundred people—had climbed the trees.
To prevent the beasts from tearing apart their camp, Yu Zhengqing and Yu Xiaoxuan quickly took down three of the tents and flattened them on the ground, covering them with snow for concealment.
After finishing, Yu Zhengqing dragged a grumbling Yu Xiaoxuan with him, moving their remaining supplies into the trees using light footwork.
At sixteen, Yu Xiaoxuan was already exhausted from days of traveling. Now, his father was making him haul even more heavy supplies up trees. He was practically dying from fatigue and couldn’t stop grumbling.
He didn’t understand why his father was doing all this.
It was one thing to help their own family, but why did they have to take care of the Bai and Liu families too?
At least climbing up trees to carry people made sense.
But now, they were wasting energy moving pots, bowls, and other useless things!
“Father, isn’t this enough? If those beasts really show up, we’ll be too exhausted to fight them off!”
